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Pronoun check

As the children at Elm House are getting older, many of the older 2 year-olds and younger three year-olds are talking and learning about gender. At Elm House, this most often comes up in the form of talking about color preference in a stereotypical way (“I want blue because I’m a boy”), or the children asking each other about gender identity (“Are you a girl?”).

Another way the children’s learning about gender can be seen is through the mistakes they make with pronouns. It’s very common for three year-olds to mispronoun everyone around them, as both part of their language development and both social and cultural learning about gender. Pronoun usage is a topic that is important to me, because I am a trans person who is frequently mispronouned. So lately, it has felt like the right time to start talking with the children about pronouns, checking each other’s pronouns, and correcting each other when we know someone has been mispronouned.

Here’s how one recent conversation about pronouns looked.

During a.m. snack, ShD, HaE, SeT and SaT, and ElB were sitting at the table eating and chatting with me (Mage).

HaE: I have a banana! I like banana.

SaT: [To Mage] What did he say?

Mage: HaE said “I like banana.” SaT, I heard you describe HaE with the pronoun “he,” and I wonder if HaE might prefer a different pronoun. Did you mean to say a different pronoun?

SaT: Yeah.

Mage: We can ask HaE about pronouns. Some pronouns that people use are she, he or they. My pronoun is “they.” SaT, which pronoun do you use?

SaT: I use he.

Mage: You said, “he.” So we will use “he” as your pronoun. We can ask HaE and all of the other children, too. HaE, which pronoun do you like?

HaE: I like black.

Mage: You like the color black? I do too. I’m asking about pronouns, like he, she or they. Which one of those do you want us to use for you?

HaE: I like he!

Mage: OK, you said you like, “he,” so that’s what we’ll use for you. So, SaT, we asked HaE and he said he wants you to use “he” pronouns. I’m glad we asked. Let’s ask the rest of the children. [To SeT] Which pronoun should we use for you?

SeT: He!

Mage: OK. “He.” How about you, ElB, which pronoun do you like?

ElB: Um, I like she.

Mage: You like she. How about you, ShD?

ShD: I like Toto!

Mage: You like Toto! We’re asking about pronouns, like he, she and they. Is there one you want us to use for you?

ShD: Me want you use she.

HaE: I like she, too!!

Mage: Oh, HaE, you like she now. Earlier you said he, and now you said she. We will use she for you now.

Simple as that. I expect we’ll have many more conversations similar to this one. I was surprised at how well the children comprehended what we were talking about, and mostly responded with confidence. I won’t be surprised if they switch pronouns occasionally, and I will always respect whatever pronoun they tell me to use, even if they change their mind five minutes later (or if don’t change their mind at all). I think the earlier that we start talking about pronouns with the children, and the more consistent we are about having these conversations, the more it will be normal for them to ask new people for pronouns, and perhaps in the long term they will be less likely to make assumptions about gender identity and pronouns.

4 Comments on “Pronoun check”

This is awesome Mage! Thank you for bringing this awareness to these children. Now they are learning that they have yet another choice in who they are, and how they want to be perceived. I really appreciate this, additionally as an echo of the gender work the children and teachers have explored at the preschool. Wahooooo!!!

I love this topic, and I love this post! I want to hear more about gender and little ones, particularly how to interact with them in ways that support their burgeoning identity, instead of cramming them into a box. I do have a request: I’m wondering if you could edit this post so the kids are identified with a couple more letters. For example, instead of KP for me (Kellee Purdy), you could write KePu. …or something like that. I ask because the key paragraph about clarifying someone’s gender pronoun is confusing due to that child’s initials being “HE.” Oh, the irony!